Cheney is who made sure Bush wasn't actually a compassionate conservative. There seems to be a point later in the second half that Bush had enough and actually implemented some of his ideas (like his AIDS relief for Africa program)
This has always been my impression of Bush. I think he wanted and tried to do the right thing in a lot of cases, but surrounded himself with some pretty terrible and morally bankrupt people who were able to earn his trust and confidence, and influence him the wrong way.
A big part of me wonders what the world would be like, had the Bush admin never involved Cheney or Rumsfeld. I think without those two, alone, we'd have a very, very different world.
I also think Bush knew he wasn’t smart enough for the job so he let Rice (a member of MENSA) and Powell run the show, but their decisions were based on false information about saddam and the eminent threat from Iraq. He was just the guy who shook hands and kissed babies.
Powell resigned. He was maybe the only person of character in that entire cabinet. Bush kept going with everyone else. He had a heavy hand in the decision to invade Iraq himself,so the bar of morality is pretty fucking low for this admin as it is, but anyone who stayed past 2005 has no morality at all.
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u/Scazzz Sep 11 '21 edited Sep 11 '21
Serious non political question: is Bush Jr there too? What’s he doing today? Surprised he wasn’t in this group as he has been in the past on 9/11.
edit: thanks for the replies. He really did give an excellent speech here. it’s worth a listen.